Adrogue

Adrogue

So this week was anything but normal… but it still ended up being a good week!! 

This week we were in Adrogue with Hermana Medford (one of my very best friends ever) and Hermana Garner (who I didn’t know that well beforehand but who is a stellar missionary.)  This week we were in Adrogue, which is a good area with the best apartment in the mission (it even has a sofa!).  

The week started out amazing when one day we found an almost brown-sugar like substance.  It tastes a little like ginger, and we made chocolate chip cookies.  We made Sister Brown’s Chocolate Chip Cookies for the first time in more than a year.  They were a little burned and the next batch was a little undercooked but they were hot and yummy.  They tasted a little like ginger and well my Grandpa would have liked them.  And not gonna lie - I literally was on the verge of tears eating them!  So that was a beautiful moment.  

From there my day went downhill.  I had a terrible head and back and stomach ache and just didn’t feel too good and as we were about to leave in the evening to work,e my companions took my temperature and whoops… look there, a fever!  So for the first time in my mission I had to stay inside because I was sick and it was terrible.  I just wanted to be outside working but at the same time I was achy and in tears and had a super high fever but was frozen and it was just not my favorite day.  But when the Hermanas got home from working they made me a chicken noodle soup cuz they are the best.

Tuesday in the morning I still wasn’t feeling too well but I didn’t have a fever so after studies in the morning we went to the district meeting in the offices.  This area is weird cuz their district is just the elders in the offices.  It was a good, funny meeting, even if I didn’t feel too well, and the meeting ended with the agreement that we were gonna have a “dessert - off” for General Conference weekend to see who made the better dessert, the Hermanas or the Elders.  After the meeting I asked for a Priesthood Blessing from the Elders and that helped a lot… it also helped me cuz Hermana Calquin and everyone was telling me I needed to take the day off cuz my fever came back during the reunion and I wasn’t doing too hot, and really I did need to rest but I didn’t want to.  But the blessing helped me see that if I wanted to get better I needed to follow the counsel of my leaders and REST.  So after lunch, where I was basically asleep anyway, I headed back to the apartment and just passed out for a few hours.

By Wednesday I felt MUCH better, besides a few stomach problems I’ll leave unnamed and I was ready to go to Zone Conference.  The Conference was great and really, really helped everyone wake up to their potential a little more.  We talked about follow-up with investigators, using time effectively and finding new investigators.  We also talked a lot about positivity and the power of a positive attitude, which is something I have really been trying to work on lately! After the Zone Conference we had a zone activity which was super fun... I participated as much as I could in the sports but hey I was still a little sick! But we did play a few very fun games of volleyball! 

After the activity it was time to head home and we had just gotten the brand new Easter pass along cards and so we were excited to use those and we had just had an awesome Zone Conference pumping us up to do lots of contacts right... so on the way home in the public bus we took with all the other missionaries we started contacting a ton!! There was one point on the train we took after the bus that we had literally between 25 or so missionaries contacting the entire train and it was just the best feeling ever :) The work getting done :) 

When we arrived in the train station that was our stop we walked straight into a giant gathering of lots of people with signs and torches and some kinda protest... we just kinda scooted around the edges and made our way home.... when to our surprise right outside our apartment a march started up! The teachers are protesting the government because they want more money and school was supposed to start A MONTH ago but they are on strike.... The school teachers have been on strike for a month and it is a mess but yeah that was cool we got front row seats to a giant march!! wooo hoo :) 

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal days.... sorta!! We had an Indian style lunch with an awesome Hermana Giselle... she doesn’t have chairs so she made lots of finger foods and put a blanket down on the ground and we had a little Indian style lunch, one of the funnest of my mission! and Friday I was able to teach one of the rare lessons to one of the rare investigators who really, really listens when we teach and asked amazing questions and understood! So can’t complain there! :) 

And then Saturday and Sunday were obviously  AMAZING because duh... GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! :) Saturday in the morning we watched the re-broadcast of the Women’s Session.... and honestly I didn’t learn too much cuz it was in Spanish... and one of the translators had a Spanish accent and I was too focused on her accent to learn anything more! But luckily for the 4 normal sessions I was able to watch it in English and that was wonderful! :) 

Between the 2 normal sessions Saturday we had our dessert-off with the elders in the offices! We made a chocolate pudding pie (Oreo crust with whipped cream on top and shavings of chocolate) and the Elders made the atomic bomb of an Oreo with a peanut paste inside the Oreo then coated in cookie dough and baked and then dipped in fudge.... it was WAY too much for me but an Elder was the judge and so we lost the competition :) That meant we had to buy the ice cream for Sunday.... :) but the Elders felt bad and made waffles to go along with the ice cream so Sunday between sessions after going to look for investigators we had a waffle and ice cream party and it was a blast !..... I ate REALLY well this week! 

And I was fed spiritually too!!! Conference was the best thing ever!! And sadly it was the last one I will see in my mission! I learned so much and have so so much to improve. What a privilege it is to be able to hear the words of living prophets and their counsels for us in our lives. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and that what he shared about the Book of Mormon is the truth. I love the Gospel and I love this church. And I testify with all my hear that this is the truth. 

-- 

Hermana Walker